In Correspondence #18

Dear friends,

It's been a while since the last In Correspondence, 9 months in fact, over which time I’ve experienced some significant ups and downs. Here I share my highlights.

Photo taken at Brave Earth by Phoebe Maria Montague-Warr

Key processes

• A Wild Mind Intensive led by Sage Magdalene and Sara McFarland, hosted by Soulcraft Baltic, the European sister organisation of Bill Plotkin’s Animas Valley Institute

• A profound Shipibo plant medicine dieta with Maestras Ynes, Laura and Lila (dieting Guayusa; 5 ceremonies across 10 days, mostly alone, mostly in silence, eating a very restricted diet)

• The excellent HER men's retreat led by Alain Lagger at Brave Earth

• The Courageous Heart meditation retreat at Gaia House led by Laura Bridgman and Kirsten Kratz, a friend of the late Rob Burbea, author of the masterful Seeing That Frees

Books I read

• The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane & Jackie Morris

• The Art of Receiving and Giving by Betty Martin

• Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

• We Will Not Cancel Us by adrienne maree brown

• The Ministry For The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

• Recapture the Rapture by Jamie Wheal

• The Journey of Soul Initiation by Bill Plotkin

• A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver

Knowledgegraph

Since last time, I’ve shared 207 items to my knowledgegraph.

Two of my favourite thinkers of the past months: Kevin Owocki (Twitter) and Clementine Morrigan (Instagram, website, podcast).

Courses

I taught the courses How to DAO (here’s a tweet with the notes), The Promise of Decentralisation and Tools for the Regenerative Renaissance (alongside Phoebe Tickell).

In February I’ll be teaching Introduction to web3, Crypto & DeFi (an updated version of my celebrated Introduction to Crypto & DeFi course). Read more and book your place

Metastrategy

ICONOMI is a social trading platform similar to eToro, and Metastrategy is my strategy there. Metastrategy is up 460% in the past year (outperforming Bitcoin by 8x) and ranks in the top 15% of all strategies. Read my step-by-step guide to investing in Metastrategy

Tao Te Ching NFTs

I gifted Tao Te Ching NFTs to @matthewmutual, @auryn_macmillan, @santisiri, @owocki, @gregory_landua, @spengrah, @austingriffith, @RichDecibels, @divine_economy and @jgreenhall. The remaining NFTs (which contain a link to a secret Telegram group) are on sale for 0.25 ETH each via Rarible.

Plans for 2022

• Attending my little brother’s wedding 💒 🎉

• Learning CosmWasm (the smart contract language of the Cosmos ecosystem)

• Learning Spanish via Preply and Italki

• Participating in my first sprint triathlon

• The Boundless Heart of Metta at Gaia House with Zohar Lavie and Jake Dartington

• Betwixt ~ Exploring the Threshold between Worlds with Rebecca Card and Bell Selkie Lovelock

• ISTA 2 with Elaine Yonge, Laurie Handlers & Eugene Hedlund

• Permaculture Design Course at the Apricot Centre

• Festivals: Buddhafield, Boom, Medicine, Primal (With insight from dieta, I plan to no longer attend UK festivals that serve alcohol.)

Offerings by friends

Check out a more detailed view on the new events page on my site

• Women's Leadership & Facilitation Training: a four-month training in authentic connection, ritual and embodiment with Gaia Harvey Jackson

• Bernardo Kastrup – With Reality in Mind: a five-week course with one of the most articulate and rigorous defenders of metaphysical idealism, facilitated by Amir Giles

• Introduction to Metamodernity and Advanced Metamodernism with Emil Ejner Friis

• Soul Play: a six-week psychosynthesis-inspired coaching journey into play, pleasure and possibility with Bonny Tydeman

• The Artist Within: a four-week journey to discover the courage, the confidence and the tools to express your inner world with Jade Wade

• Soulful Masculinity: a weekend retreat exploring what men can be at their best with Conor Cregg

And finally, here’s a playlist based on the DJ set I played at my 36th birthday celebrations.

Until next time, with love,
Stephen, @daoist321